Sunday, March 27, 2011

The pump

This is what it looks like and....this is how it hangs around my neck. The tube is attached to a needle which is inserted through the skin into a portable catheter in my chest just between my breasts - that's why there's not a picture of it hanging in it's rightful place :)

Today I have had a CT scan which shows that the tumours have shrunk since the chemotherapy began. That's good news. I visited the surgeon for the results and a consultation about whether to go ahead with the peritonectomy. I know I said previously that I have decided against surgery but........I'm keeping my options open - hoping for a medical miracle breakthrough of some kind :)

Of course the surgeon believes that surgery is my best option. He says it will extend my life (longer than chemotherapy will) and there is a 30% chance that it will be a cure. He says that eventually the chemotherapy will fail to keep the tumours at bay and they will always come back and grow larger and.....

My concerns about surgery are:

major assault on body

lengthy recuperative time

quality of life afterwards with possible complications

one of the tumours is on a back muscle that is associated with walking and will have to be removed

going into a lengthy hospital stay with an infection that has been there since June 2010 surgery and is not cleared up yet - will it ever be?

and the list goes on.............

More to deliberate on.

In the meantime - the pump comes off tomorrow aftrernoon and on Wednesday morning I am flying to WA to conduct a wedding for a dear friend in Margaret River. Spending a week there with friends before I have to return and perhaps maken a final decision about surgery.